Surface cattle-guard



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J. WHITTEMORE.

SURFACE CATTLE GUARD.

No. 437,742. Patented Oct. 7, 1890.

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Wain/eases: JIZI/EIZZO/"J M James Wild/aware UNITED STATES PATENTOrricn.

JAMES IVHITTEMORE, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO THE NATIONALSURFACE GUARD COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SU RFACE CATTLE-G UARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 437,742, dated October'7, 1890.

Application filed May 5, 1890. Serial No. 350,628. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J AMES WHITTEMORE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Detroit, in the county of WVayne and State of Michigan, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Surface Cattle-Guards,of which the following is a specification, reference being had thereinto the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in railway surfacecattle-guards; and the invention consists in the peculiar constructionof the grating or sections laid upon the track at road-crossings;further, in the peculiar construction of the gratings whereby they aresuspended and free to vibrate, and, further, in the peculiarconstruction, arrangement, and combination of the various parts, all asmore fully hereinafter described.

In the drawings which accompanythis specification, Figure 1 is a planview of my guard. Fig. 2 is a cross-section thereof on line 00 00. Fig.3 is a detached perspective View of a portion of one of the gratings.Fig. 4 is a plan view of a modification. Fig. 5 is a cross-sec tionthereof on line y y.

A are the rails, and B the ties of a railwaytrack.

In the present state of the art railway cattleguards are constructed ofgratings laid upon the track at each side of a road-crossing. Manydifferent forms of these have been devised, the aim of all being to giveso insecure a footing to cattle attempting to cross the guard as todeter them from doing so. To this end gratings of different forms havebeen made, which, however, have heretofore been fixed in position uponthe track, some having gu ard-rails of different heights, some arrangedwith guard-rails free to vibrate in fixed bearings, and various otherstyles.

My invention consists in suspending the grating in such a manner thatthe gratings themselves will have a vibratory motion.

C, D, and D are respectively the innerand outer sections of gratings,which are formed of guards-rails a, assembled together by means ofcross-bars b, which have notches con their upper edges to receive thelower edges of the rails a at each end. This bar has the upturned flangecl, bearing against the side of the end rail. This flange and all theguard-rails are correspondingly apertured to receive the rod 6, whichtightly clamps the rails in position in the grating.

Secured upon the ties at each end of the grating are the supporting-barsE, which preferably consist of sheet metal bent to have the verticalportion f, the inclined portion g, and the lateral extension or foot h.

F are cranks engaged at one end in the bar E and at the other end in anaperture in the connecting-bar I), all so arranged that the grating issuspended free from the ties upon the cranks and is free to vibrate incase an animal should step upon it. Thegrating itself may be made rigidor with the bars supported only at the ends, whereby each bar may bemade flexible. 7

I preferably make the grating rigid, and to this end I use the centralconnecting-bar G,

which is of similar construction to the bars I), previously described,except that. it is secured only to the side guard-rails, and noclamping-rod such as e is required.

The supporting-bars E, having the inclined face 9, will ward oif anydangling chains or hooks, so that they will notbe apt to catch in theguard-rails.

Instead of supporting the grating by means of the cranks, as shown inFigs. 1, 2, and 3,

to cause them to vibrate, I have shown in Figs. 4 and 5 another way ofdoing the same thing, which is providing the sections centrally with thepin Z, engaging in the sup porting-bar E, so that the guard-rails willtip one from one side to the other, giving the necessary movement orvibration to frighten the cattle from crossing.

It will be seen that by this construction I obtain all the benefits ofthe present style of guard in having an irregular and difficult footingfor the animal, and in addition thereto give the grating such avibratory motion as effectually to destroy the footing of the ani- 5mal.

hat I claim as my invention is- 1. In a cattle-guard, the combination,with cross-bars, of guard-rails rigidly secured on the same and meansfor inovably supporting I00 the cross-bars, substantially as described.

2. A cattle-guard consisting of one or more gratings and means formovably suspending and securing the gratings, substantially asdescribed.

3. A cattleguard composed of gratings, supporting-bars secured upon thetrack, and means for suspending said gratings from the supporting-bars,substantially as described.

4. In a cattle-guard, the combination, with the gratings havingcross-bars at their ends,

of supporting-bars beside said cross-bars and of double cranks havingtheir ends journaled, {)espectively, in the cross-bars andsupportingars.

5. In a cattle-guard, the combination of the guard-rails e, thecross-bars b, notched to reoeive said guard-rails, and the connectingrode, securing the cross-bar and guard-rails together, substantially asdescribed.

6. In a cattle-guard, the combination, with vthe grating havingcross-bars b, of the sup- 2o porting-bars E, having the vertical portion7 and the inclined portion g, and the crank F,

engaging in the cross-bars b at one end and the vertical portion f ofthe supporting-bars at the other end, substantially as described. 25 Intestimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

JAMES WHITTEMORE. Witnesses:

M. B. ODOGHERTY, P. M. HULBERT.

